First Nation Education Act tops Harper government’s aboriginal agenda

Aboriginal protesters march through downtown Ottawa to Parliament Hill in January.

Photograph by: JULIE OLIVER/Postmedia News
, Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who began the year watching aboriginals protest outside his office window, will soon see his government grapple with some of the most intractable issues associated with Canada’s First Nations.

In the months ahead, the challenges will range from pulling aboriginal children out of poverty through better education to ensuring the shameful past of residential schools is exposed.

Harper’s government will also tiptoe through other minefields: aboriginal trepidation to a western pipeline; a United Nations probe into Canada’s treatment of its aboriginals; and political pressure for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Here’s a primer:

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Education

Q. What’s the government’s plan?

A. This fall, it will introduce a bill, the First Nation Education Act, to set “minimum standards” for schools attended by aboriginal children.

Q. What do we know so far?

A. Only broad strokes. The government released a “blueprint” in July, indicating the bill will allow schools to be community-operated through First Nations or an agreement with a province, and there will be standards for qualifications of teaching staff and curriculum and graduation requirements for students.

Q. What’s the deadline?

A. The government wants the new system in force when students begin school in September 2014.

Q. Why is this a priority?

A. The Assembly of First Nations says the high school graduation rate is 36 per cent, compared to 72 per cent in Canada overall. Aboriginal youths are now the fastest growing demographic in the country, and the federal government says it wants to help them “achieve their full potential.”

Q. Is the plan contentious?

A. Yes. Aboriginal leaders insist there hasn’t been enough consultation. They worry a “one-size-fits-all” plan will be forced on First Nations communities that doesn’t respect their culture. Just as important, they say new standards should not be imposed without a corresponding increase in federal education funding, which they complain is already too low.

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Residential Schools

Q. What’s new?

A. Five years after a commission was established to tell the story of what happened, it might not get to fully do its job.

Q. What’s the background?

A. Over many decades, 150,000 aboriginal children were sent to church-run schools, where many faced physical and sexual abuse. A lawsuit against the federal government and churches resulted in payments to those affected and the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Its job was to hold public hearings so people could tell their stories, collect records, and establish a national research centre.

Q. What’s the problem?

A. The hearings have gone well, but the commission and federal government got into a spat over how many documents — there are millions — should be transferred from federal files. The government didn’t want to transfer as much of the material as demanded by the commission. The dispute ended up in court, where the judge ruled in the commission’s favour in January.

Q. Has that solved the problem?

A. No. The commission is running out of time. It must wind up its operations by July 1, 2014, and submit its report sometime after that. Commission chair Murray Sinclair has said that unless the federal government transfers the documents in its files, the work of the commission could be seriously compromised.

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Northern Gateway

Q. How are aboriginals involved?

A. They’re not proponents of the proposed pipeline project but they might have the clout to stop it. They fear that First Nations will be denied their economic share of any project, and that a pipeline could pose environmental risks and endanger traditional practices such as hunting.

Q. What’s happening behind the scenes?

A. The National Energy Board will rule by Dec. 31 on whether the pipeline should proceed. A parade of cabinet ministers has been travelling to B.C. to meet aboriginal leaders and get them onside.

Q. How are they reacting?

A. Some suspect it’s just a charade so that government lawyers can later claim in court that aboriginals were consulted.

Q. How’s that?

A. It’s widely expected aboriginals will oppose this in court, and federal lawyers will argue they complied with their constitutional obligation to “consult and accommodate” First Nations.

Q. Will the protests be confined to courts?

A. Probably not. If the project goes ahead, aboriginals are expected to block roads in an effort to stop pipeline construction.

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The United Nations

Q. Will Canada’s treatment of aboriginals be in the international spotlight?

A. Yes. James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is visiting Canada Oct. 7-15.

Q. What will he do here?

A. He’ll meet Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, aboriginal chiefs, and is expected to visit some First Nations communities. The UN says the “aim” of Anaya’s visit is to “examine the human rights situation” of the country’s indigenous peoples. His final report will go to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Q. What are people expecting?

A. Anaya probably won’t pull his punches in describing aboriginal poverty and human rights violations. The Harper government says it welcomes Anaya, but it has a record of being publicly disdainful of other UN special rapporteurs and it has already been critical of how Anaya spoke out last year about the living conditions at the Attawapiskat reserve in Northern Ontario.

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Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

Q. How big is the problem?

A. More than 580 aboriginal women are believed to have been killed or gone missing since 1970. Aboriginal women are seven times more likely to die a violent death than non-aboriginal women.

Q. What’s being done about it?

A. Aboriginal leaders are calling for a national public inquiry, and they have the support of provincial premiers. But the federal government has said no.

Q. Why?

A. Valcourt says he wants to take “action” instead of turning to another “study.” The government says it has already adopted a strategy to improve law enforcement for aboriginal women, social programs have been strengthened, and legislation has been passed to protect the matrimonial rights of women on reserves.

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